


A Promise

by secretninjagirl



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pacific Rim Fusion, M/M, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-24
Updated: 2015-08-24
Packaged: 2018-04-16 23:23:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4643964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secretninjagirl/pseuds/secretninjagirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A prequel drabble of sorts for my Pacific Rim AU; this is set in the equivalent of Teiko era, though Akashi is 18.  Nijimura can tell that Akashi is working himself too hard, and intends to do something about it, but it leads to more serious contemplations about their situation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Promise

“Akashi,” Nijimura called, and the younger man turned to face him.  “If you could come to my room, I’d like to talk to you.”  

“Of course,” Akashi replied, following him easily.  The request in and of itself was not unusual, since the two of them often spent evenings discussing the promising group of cadets in training.  What was unusual was Nijimura’s reason for the request, and his intended topic of discussion.  He couldn’t help but notice how lately Akashi had become even more tense and stressed than usual.  The redhead hid it well under his usual mask of gracious politeness, but Nijimura could read it in the tense lines of his body, and sense it every time their minds connected in the drift.  And he fully intended to do something about it.  

He ushered Akashi into the room first, and then closed the door behind himself.  When he turned to face Akashi, the younger man was looking at him expectantly.  

“What did you want to discuss, Nijimura-san?” he asked, when an answer to his unspoken question did not seem to be forthcoming.  

“Right,” Nijimura said, stalling for a moment as he considered how to begin, before he decided to go for the straightforward route.  “I know the higher-ups have been putting a lot of pressure on you lately,” he began, “but that doesn’t mean that you have to let it control you.”  When Akashi just looked at him in slight confusion, he pressed on.  “Just because you have a lot of potential doesn’t mean you need to drive yourself into the dirt trying to meet everyone’s expectations.”

“I’m afraid I’m not sure what you mean, Nijimura-san,” Akashi said, giving him a bemused look, and Nijimura could only sigh heavily.  He should have expected this, after all, it seemed impossible for Akashi to undertake anything without the utmost seriousness in his efforts.  

“You need to relax,” he said, deciding to go for something a little more simple.

“I read every night before I sleep to relax,” Akashi replied, brows furrowing a little in confusion.  

“Those are college textbooks,” Nijimura scoffed, “and they’re definitely not relaxing.”  Akashi looked affronted at that, and Nijimura sighed, realizing that he had to pick his battles properly.  

“Well you at least need to loosen up,” he insisted, crossing his arms to show the younger man that he wasn’t going to back down on this.

“And how exactly would you propose that I do this?” Akashi asked, looking at him skeptically.  

Nijimura had to admit that he made a good point.  Akashi didn’t seem capable of loosening up anymore than he seemed capable of not taking something seriously.  He briefly considered a massage before discarding it as he thought of his hands across Akashi’s shoulders and just as quickly pushed that thought as far back in his mind as possible.  He flicked through several other ideas quickly, none of them good, before focusing on one that would be both simple and effective.  He turned to the mini-fridge in his room, pulling out two cans of beer and popping the tabs before handing one to Akashi.  The redhead considered the can in his hand for a long moment before looking up at Nijimura with the skepticism written plain across his face.  

“You don’t have to keep drinking it if you don’t want to,” he said, answering the unspoken question in Akashi’s gaze, “but you should at least try it.”  He knew Akashi was still slightly underage, and he fully intended to stay as sober as possible to keep Akashi from doing anything stupid.  At worst, the alcohol would make him sleepy, and he badly needed sleep.  

Nijimura raised his can to his lips, taking a large first sip.  Akashi’s eyes watched him sharply as he swallowed the alcohol easily, used to the bitter edge.  Akashi seemed to regard this as a challenge, lifting his own can to his lips with a spark in his eyes, and took a sip as large as Nijimura’s.  He grimaced slightly as he swallowed the bitter alcohol, but he forced his expression back into neutrality, before taking another sip, as if defying the slight smirk Nijimura pointed at him.  

He had thought that the worst the alcohol could do was make Akashi sleepy, but apparently drinking just made him talkative.  He waxed philosophical about anything and everything.  One minute he talked about how Midorima had opened his eyes to a broader view of fate (that didn’t surprise Nijimura at all since the two were similar in a lot of ways, and good friends) and how he believed that the Generation of Miracles, as the media had dubbed them, (it was far too early to call them a miracle if one asked Nijimura, but no one did) were meant to be together and that Kuroko was not only the most miraculous of them all, but would one day accomplish great things.  And then the next minute he talked about the arrangement of their respective rooms down to the books on the shelves, and what it said about each of them.  It was as he was discussing some complex concept from his Philosophy textbook that he began to lean slightly in his seat next to Nijimura on the edge of his bed (they often conversed like this, since it was really the only place to sit in the cramped room).  As Akashi’s voice quieted and his words slowed, his head dipped until it flopped, unceremoniously onto Nijimura’s shoulder, although he wasn’t quite sure when they had started sitting close enough for that to happen.  

“Akashi, you okay?” he asked, suddenly worried when he realized that Akashi had at some point begun drinking from Nijimura’s own half empty can.  He placed both hands on Akashi’s shoulders to push him away slightly and make sure he hadn’t passed out, only to discover that the younger man’s red eyes were very much open, though slightly unfocused.  He considered Nijimura with a surprisingly serious expression for a moment, before taking the older man’s face in both hands, leaning forward, and pressing a chaste kiss to his lips.  

“Nijimura-san is very cool,” he said, cheeks flushing both with alcohol and embarrassment.  He blinked owlishly a few times, before falling forward, his forehead pressing into Nijimura’s shoulder.

“Thanks, Akashi,” he muttered once he had determined that Akashi had not, in fact, passed out, and then started trying to find an appropriate response.  He knew Akashi had a crush on him, there was no way he couldn’t know when their minds were connected so frequently, but Akashi had never acted on it, and they had never talked about it.  For Nijimura’s part, Akashi was a very important person to him, and he felt that the bond they had forged was unbreakable.  But he was uncertain and wary of what a relationship between them would look like.  Akashi was already so deferential to him; how much worse would it be if they were in a relationship?  And Akashi was so young, he needed time to develop and grow as a person (and a leader, if the higher-ups had anything to say about it) without constantly following Nijimura’s lead.  Really, keeping things the way they were was better for both of them, he told himself.  And he was happy with the bond they shared, happy that Akashi was the one beside him in battle.  

“You’re the best co-pilot I could ask for,” he finally murmured, bringing one hand up to card through Akashi’s soft red hair.  When Akashi moved, but only to nuzzle further into his shoulder, he realized that the younger man had fallen asleep and was now drooling contentedly onto his shirt.  

“What am I gonna do with you?” he chuckled, shaking his head fondly.  After a moment more of running his fingers through Akashi’s hair, he realized quite suddenly that he had posed a very relevant question.  What was he going to do with a drunk and sleepy Akashi Seijuro?  Trying to wake Akashi up and walk him back to his room was out of the question, since he might be seen stumbling around by others in the base.  Carrying Akashi back to his room was also out of the question, because he knew that Akashi hated to have others see his weaknesses.  Really, when he thought about it, the only reasonable option was to have Akashi sleep in his room.  Having decided that, he carefully slipped Akashi out of his boots and then out of his uniform shirt, leaving his white undershirt hanging from his pale shoulders.  He then gently laid Akashi down on the bed, before readying himself to sleep.  He pulled off his own boots and stripped down to his undershirt and boxers, and then pulled out his extra blanket and pillow, fully prepared to sleep on the floor.  Once he turned the lights out, he returned to the edge of the bed, looking down at Akashi’s peacefully sleeping face.  He felt a sudden surge of affection for this boy who looked at him like he was the Sun, like he was the best person in the world.  He knew he wasn’t that good of a person, but for Akashi’s sake, he wanted to be, for reasons that he didn’t want to examine too closely.  He reached down to gently push some of Akashi’s hair away from his eyes, before beginning to move towards his own makeshift bed, when a hand grabbed his wrist firmly.  Akashi had appeared to be asleep, but now he was blinking sleepily up at Nijimura.  

“Where are you going?” Akashi asked, voice heavy with sleep.  

“Over there, to sleep,” he explained, gesturing towards his blanket and pillow.

“Stay,” Akashi demanded, and before Nijimura could explain that he really wasn’t going that far, Akashi had pulled him down onto the bed with surprising strength for a half-asleep boy who weighed at least twenty pounds less than he did.  As Akashi began to pull Nijimura into place around him, he wondered with a pang how touch-starved Akashi must have been if he only allowed himself to have it when he was drunk and half-asleep.  So he curled obligingly around Akashi, holding him close in a protective embrace.  

“Please don’t leave me,” Akashi whispered sleepily.  

“Of course not,” Nijimura said, pressing a soft kiss to Akashi’s temple before settling in to sleep.  “I promise.”  

**Author's Note:**

> Believe me, I hate myself for that ending too.


End file.
